Marco Rubio Dismisses System of Checks and Balances: 'Judge Cannot Tell Me How to Conduct Foreign Policy'

Trump administration Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied the judiciary's authority over him during a heated exchange with a Democratic Senator while testifying in front of the legislature.

Senator Chris Van Hollen asked the Trump administration cabinet member about the administration's accidental deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongfully sent to a high security prison in El Salvador. Rubio responded by echoing the Trump administrations unsubstantiated claims that Garcia was a member of the gang MS13 and that he had allegedly been complicit in crimes committed by the gang.

"We deported gang members. Gang members, including the one you had a margarita with. And that guy is a human trafficker, and that guy is a gang banger, and the evidence is going to be clear in the days to come," Rubio said, referencing Van Hollen's visit to El Salvador and meeting with Garcia last month.

Van Hollen then refuted Rubio's allegations and asked Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch to reprimand Rubio for making unsubstantiated claims.

"Secretary Rubio should take that testimony to federal court in the United States because he hasn't done it under oath," Van Hollen stated, after which he was admonished by Risch.

Rubio then denied the court's authority over himself and the President.

"There is a division in our government between the federal branch and the judicial branch. No judge, and the judicial branch, cannot tell me or the president how to conduct foreign policy," Rubio said. "No judge can tell how I have to outreach to a foreign partner or what I need to say to them. And if do reach to that foreign partner and talk to them, I am under no obligation to share that with the judiciary branch."

This echoes the sentiments of other Trump administration officials and members of the President's inner circle, who have disregarded the federal judiciary in the past. President Trump, as well as close Trump ally Elon Musk and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt have all denied the judiciary's authority since Trump took office earlier this year.